Brazilian jailed for killing Briton

A Brazilian man who killed, dismembered, then stuffed the body of a British teenager in a suitcase has been sentenced to 21 years in prison.

Mohamed D'Ali Carvalho Santos had admitted stabbing to death Cara Burke, 17, before dismembering her in Brazil last year after arguing about his heavy drug use.

He then dumped the torso of the girl, from Southfields, south-west London, in a suitcase on a rural riverbank near Goiania in July.

Santos, 21, calmly told the court in the central Brazilian city of the case's grisly details before being sentenced.

The prosecution had asked for the maximum 30-year prison sentence for the killer. Defence lawyer Carlos Trajano called the sentence "more or less fair", but left open the possibility of appeal.

Miss Burke went to Brazil last year after she met Santos in London and he invited her for an extended stay in Goiania. The two were apparently not a couple.

Santos said he had been smoking crack cocaine for four days when the teenager threatened to tell his mother he was spending all his money on drugs unless he gave her an unspecified amount of cash. He said he started stabbing her, and after realising she was dead, dismembered and disposed of her body in two suitcases.

Jurors rejected the defence plea for a lighter sentence on diminished responsibility grounds.

Dressed in a white shirt and jeans, Santos bowed his head as Judge Jessair Coelho de Alcantara sentenced him to 19 years for the killing and two more for hiding the body.

Mr Trajano said the sentence meant Santos could spend eight years in prison and then be eligible for part-time custody.